It would be hard to find a better symbol of media repression in Africa than Eskinder Nega. The veteran Ethiopian journalist and dissident blogger has been detained at least seven times by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government over the past two decades, and was put back in jail on September 14, 2011, after he published a column calling for the government to respect freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and to end torture in prisons.

HARGEISA — HARGEISA — President Ahmed Mohamed Silaanyo ordered an emergency meeting of both Houses of parliament on Thursday following the declaration of semi-autonomous state within Somaliland by tribal leaders in Taleeh in Sool region.

New York, January 13, 2012– The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the recent spate of arrests of independent reporters in the semi-autonomous republic ofSomaliland.

At least seven journalists have been arrested since last week, with three still in custody without being charged, local journalists said. According to Somaliland’s constitution, a judge can authorize police to hold a suspect without charge for up to 21 days for further investigations.

With the exception of very few personalities, TFG officials never attempted to justify in public the need to adopt the 4.5 discrimination clause under the current or under the proposed constitution of the country. Nor did we have the illusion that we would get a favorable reaction from them, because, at one time or another, most of them were the architects of this unfortunate disappointment in the first place.